John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

Waterways come under the remit of the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív. I am not up to date on developments in that area other than to say that it might be possible for Deputy Wall to table a question on waterways to the Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív. Naturally, I would encourage as much co-operation as possible in this regard and agree with Deputy Wall about the potential of waterways.

There have been many initiatives in recent years in the north east and north west. Under the tourism product development scheme some €50 million was made available for the provision of attractions in areas outside traditional tourist areas, such as Killarney. In this respect, Donegal has done extremely well in that a number of projects in the county have been nominated. Of major importance in the North is the plan for a new visitor centre at the Giant's Causeway, which is one of only three world heritage sites on the island. I visited it recently and was very impressed by the design, which was launched by my Northern counterpart as Minister, Ms Angela Smith MP. The centre will be of enormous significance.

The increasing business at City of Derry Airport is good news for access to the north-west and the north generally. This should be allied to the decision of Continental Airlines to fly into Belfast, the first time an American airline has operated a transatlantic route to Belfast. Continental Airlines states it is very happy with the amount of business achieved on that route.

Deputy McGinley is correct that the northern part of the island is coming from a lower base. Owing to more than 30 years of the Troubles, it was close to impossible on occasion to get tourists to visit the North of Ireland. People have traditionally visited Donegal, which is and continues to be a popular destination. In the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland, however, it was extremely difficult. Nonetheless, there are encouraging signs. Last year there was an increase of 11% in the number of visitors coming to the North of Ireland. Admittedly the base is low, but there is no question that there has been a vast improvement. The co-operation arrangement I announced recently in the North with my Northern Ireland colleagues should be of tremendous benefit.

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